The New 52: Futures End #16Review

Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, and Keith Giffen return for another installment of Futures End. The latest issue is, as is often the case with this series, full of good and bad moments, but it seemingly takes a few big steps forward in the overall narrative which should be exciting for those of us who have been following this series since the beginning.

This issue begins with a somewhat surprising character that so far has been seen a few times, but rarely heard: Stormguard. His part of the story is short, but sweet as we learn some more about this character and see how he operates. This was the most stand out element of this issue at least for the sake of its quality. On the flip side of that the Cadmus Island scenes continue to suffer from any sense of fluidity. The biggest developments are found with Mr. Terrific and the Frankenstein/Amethyst/Hawkman trio. Without even knowing it, these characters are all connected in a major (and potentially deadly) way, and while the reveal seen at the end of this issue will certainly have some big impacts in future issues, it really just confirms our suspicions anyway leading to a somewhat anti-climatic cliffhanger. Still, it’s nice to see the narrative picking up some speed.

Jesus Merino handles the artwork here, and his opening Stormguard pages feature some of the best art that this series as had so far. The design for Stormguard is already striking, but Merino truly helps to deliver his character with his classic superhero stylings. Beyond that, the rest of issue benefits just as much with clear action and easy to follow layouts.

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Okay

The New 52 Futures End #16 picks up speed and delivers some developments, but the results are still mixed.